Page 16
Your News
Wyoming Rewards
Diabetes Education
Continued from cover.
Patients can reduce their risk of further
health complications through education on
self-management techniques such as eating
healthy foods, getting exercise, improving
medication adherence, using coping skills
and monitoring blood sugar levels, as well as
routine consultations with diabetes specialists.
However, this raises another challenge: how
do you get people to put what they have
learned into practice?
The
and
developed
a unique approach to overcome
this obstacle and promote diabetes
self-management: Choice Rewards.
Launched in December 2014,
Choice Rewards is a one-on-one
outreach and incentive program
that engages people diagnosed
with diabetes, educates them on
self-management and rewards
them for accomplishing activities
that can improve their condition.
The reward? A $25 incentive for
meeting each set of quarterly
goals – a potential $100 for
a full year of compliance and
participation. It is managed by
Xerox, who also manages the
WYhealth program for
the Department.
Program Development
Following a major analysis of client healthcare
claims, WYhealth care managers found that
the adult diabetes rate in Wyoming had
doubled over the past decade.
3
Improving
education about diabetes and what clients
could do to live healthier lives was the key
to reversing this alarming trend. To make
the initiative more effective, WYhealth
decided to use one-on-one outreach by
phone to deliver educational materials and
direct encouragement – a much more active
approach than a one-time mailing.
By engaging with WYhealth clients directly,
the managers could do more to improve
client knowledge about diabetes and self-
management and reinforce positive behaviors
through a reward system. Choice Rewards
would also help connect at-risk clients with
available care services and ultimately improve
health outcomes, translating to lower overall
healthcare costs.
How It Works
The first step in Choice Rewards is getting
people involved. The care managers review
Medicaid claims data and identify adults
diagnosed with diabetes. These clients are
mailed an explanation of the effects of
diabetes and how Choice Rewards can help
them – and reward them. WYhealth staff then
follow up by phone to recruit participants into
the program. Healthcare providers serving
Wyoming Medicaid clients were educated
about Choice Rewards so they can refer
additional clients.
Once enrolled, a client has a welcome phone
meeting with a WYhealth care manager. The
manager first gathers baseline information
(the client’s overall state of health, current
self-management activities, level of exercise,
self-confidence in managing their condition,
etc.) and provides a general overview of the
program. The call is also used to establish the
client’s long- and short-term goals.
Following this call, the client is mailed
educational materials on diet, exercise and
other self-management activities. Being a
patient-centric program, the Choice Rewards
materials are targeted to the client’s needs.
For example, if a client is already familiar with
a topic covered in the educational materials,
it can be eliminated from the packet. The
educational materials are based on the
Seven Self-Care Behaviors from the American
Association of Diabetes Educators. They are
written at a 6th grade reading level and easy
to understand. This straightforward approach
makes it more likely that the client can follow
the suggestions. The client is also provided
with forms for tracking their blood glucose
levels, blood pressure and weight
between checkups.
During subsequent calls, the care manager
reviews the educational materials with the
client as well as other information about
their current health status. By obtaining more
details – such as other symptoms and social
determinants of health – the care manager
gets a better idea of the client’s unique
issues and personalizes their plan of care and
quarterly goals. This increases the client’s
likelihood of succeeding and increasing the
program’s effectiveness.
Another key step in Choice Rewards is
notifying the client’s healthcare provider of
their enrollment in the program. The care
manager uses this opportunity to confirm
the client’s health information and learn the
clinical details of their condition, including lab
results, weight and current medications and
collaborate on the care plan. The additional
information enables WYhealth to further
personalize the client’s plan and goals for their
unique issues.
The process continues with a minimum of one
check-in call per month. The client provides the
status of blood sugar levels, success they’ve
had with being active and any outcomes
of their doctor visits. Through answering
the client’s questions and discovering new
information about the client’s condition, the
care manager can further fine-tune the plan
of care or develop new approaches.
